Action Comics #13Review

Halloween specials can go horribly wrong or horribly right. Consider this the latter. While more than a few aspects of the story defy logical explanation in terms of our loose grasp on superhero science, the pure fun of the telling makes this story rise above it all. The story has a creepy villain, a terrifying concept, and a certain Super-dog whose return will surely make many fans happy, namely IGN Comics Editor Joey Esposito.

The Ghost of the Fortress of Solitude works so well because of Travel Foreman’s superb art. This comes as no surprise given how Foreman tore it up on Jeff Lemire’s horror-centric Animal Man. He lends an eerie quality to the often sterile-yet-beautiful Fortress, and outdoes himself in the Phantom Zone scenes where he provides a great example of how less is more. Only Brad Anderson’s colors could use some tweaking; while they are of sound quality, the bright palette does not fit the tone of the story.

A delightful surprise comes with the arrival of the Phantom Stranger, who sounds worlds away from how Dan Didio wrote him in last month’s Phantom Stranger #0. His trippy dialogue complete with vague hints at his obvious origin create a dynamic foil for Superman. In fact, this whole story lends itself to Grant Morrison’s strange and expansive vocabulary. He delves into the world he writes in and brings out the most peculiar pieces of exposition and dialogue, yet they all work together to create a charming, if not entirely clear, story.

The backup feature attempts to add a heartfelt look at Krypto’s bond with Superman throughout his adventures. The story comes off sweet enough, and it acts as a nice companion to what we learned in the main feature. Best of all, Brad Walker has done great work on this title and shows off his excellent art yet again. It’s also worth mentioning Krypto’s new look in both stories: instead of resembling a white Parson Russell Terrier, he now appears to be a fierce white wolf. John Snow would be jealous.

Joshua is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter or IGN, but only if you are prepared to hear more about Darth Maul, Green Lantern, and Doop than you would ever care to know.

Great

Superman’s Halloween special is a little creepy and a whole lot of fun.